Free While Constrained: Side-Bent, Stepping Down (Patrons)

Mostly back-lying, some front-lying. Enjoy the rich internal reconfigurations and freedoms that are prompted as you learn how to use your legs and pelvis with ease while your head, spine, ribs, and shoulders are constrained in a gentle side-bent position. Themes of skeletal support and sensing your primary spinal bias are also touched on. This bias is discussed briefly after the lesson.

More Challenging  back-lying  front-lying 

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Before you begin read this for practical tips and your responsibilities, and check out Comfort & Configuration below.

Recorded live in a Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, this lesson is copyright Nick Strauss-Klein, for personal use only.

Tip – Complete the Movement

Study tip: Complete one movement before beginning the next. You’ll improve faster if there’s enough time between movements that you feel fully at rest.

Tip – what to wear

Study tip: Wear loose, comfortable clothes that are warm enough for quiet movement. Remove or avoid anything restrictive like belts or glasses.

Tip – Directions are Relative

Study tip: Directions are always relative to your body. For example, if you’re lying on your back “up” is toward your head, and “forward” is toward the ceiling.

Tip – skip a lesson

Study tip: If you can’t find a comfortable way to do the initial movements or configuration of a lesson, it’s ok to skip it for now and go on to another lesson.

Tip – Rewinding

Study tip: Many instructions are repeated. If you get a little lost, rest and listen. You’ll often find your way. Or use the rewind button on the page or your mobile device.

Tip – LESSS is more

LESSS is more: Light, Easy, Small, Slow, & Smooth movements will ease pains and improve your underlying neuromuscular habits faster than any other kind of movement, no matter who you are or what your training is!

Tip 2 – Social Sharing

Project tip: Try the social buttons below. Please help us to achieve our vision: spreading the life-changing benefits of Feldenkrais study as widely as possible!

Tip 1 – Interrupted?

Study tip: Interrupted or don’t have enough time? You can return to the lesson later today or tomorrow. Read how best to continue your learning on our FAQ page.

Tip – Technical Difficulties

Tech tip: If you have any trouble with the audio player, reboot your browser. That solves most issues. If not, try another browser or contact us.

Tip 5 – Discomfort

Study tip: If a configuration or movement causes any increase in discomfort, or you feel you just don’t want to do it, don’t! Make it smaller and slower, adapt it, or rest and imagine.

Tip – Pause the recording

Study tip: If you’re really enjoying a movement and want to explore longer, or you just need a break for a while, pause the recording!

Tip – Join!

Join the Project! Members and Patrons see streamlined lesson pages, and can access My Journey (the and above), and the Related Lessons tab below.

Tip – Lesson names

What’s in a lesson title? Lessons are about an hour unless a shorter duration is shown in the title. Thanks to our donors they’re freely offered unless marked “Patrons” – those are how we thank our Patron-level donors.

Tip – Comments

Project tip: Leave a lesson comment below! It’s a great way to give feedback or ask a question, and it helps google find us so we can achieve The Feldenkrais Project’s vision!

Tip 4 – Padding

Study tip: Comfort first! Carpeted floors usually work well, but it’s great to have an extra mat or blanket nearby in case you need a softer surface in some configurations.

Tip 3 – Head Support

Study tip: It helps to have a large bath towel nearby when you start a lesson. You can fold it differently for comfortable head support in any configuration.

Browser/device size and audio player

Tech tip: On mobile or tablet? Once you start playing the audio, your device’s native playback controls should work well.

We offer over 50 free lessons, but this one's just for our Patron-level donors. You can learn about it in the free lesson notes and comments below, but to access the audio you’ll need to join The FP as a Patron. Learn more

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  • Comfort & Configuration
  • Clarifications
  • Curiosities
  • Context
  • Related Lessons
  • Source

Avoid high-friction mats (like a tacky yoga mat) for this lesson.

Before class started I shared an email from one of the students which gets mentioned in the lesson. You can find it in the Curiosities tab.

The pelvis is never lifted completely off the ground in this lesson. Rather one hip is lifted at a time, leading the pelvis to roll along the ground away from it.

This is a great lesson for reversing all the lefts and rights on subsequent listenings. As you learn to sense and connect with your primary spinal bias it’s a useful experiment to try the other side first.

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Right before the recording picks up I read Laura’s email below to the students in the class, with her permission.

Nick, over the coming weeks, as we work on more challenging lessons, could you talk more about the feeling of wanting to “bolt”—either emotionally, physically, mentally? Someone having SI trouble doesn’t feel that different to me from my nervous system feeling agitated, or like I could just fall asleep. It all feels like resistance. Maybe I’m looking for some failsafe way to resist resistance—haha! I know the rewards are there if we stick with it—I’ve learned that over and over in my life. This all feels very much like a metaphor for the lockdown—how people are alternatively agitated, tired, content, disturbed, happy, sad, energized, or not. I guess I could boil it all down to this, and it’s not even a question, but I’m reminded of how important it is to just stick with ourselves, to be present with our discomfort.

I responded in part with this quote from Sam Harris (philosopher, neuroscientist, and meditation teacher), used during the lesson’s opening scan:

Pay attention to your experience without resistance, without a plan, without making an attempt to change it…. Let your mere attention to sensation puncture whatever state you’re in….

This lesson is found in Patron Treasures, our exclusive collection of lessons for Feldenkrais Project Patron-level donors. It’s also in our Free While Constrained Deep Dive.

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

Members and Patrons. Learn more or login:

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